A Change of Heart
by galaxies in her eyes
Summary: Romilda gets stuck to the worst person possible for an entire day due to Neville's Potions skills. Written for Ilvermorny's weekly challenge.


**This is written for Ilvermorny, the Hidden Figures topic.**

 **Prompts: Romilda Vane (main prompt), your character is stuck with a person they detest for a whole day (scenario; secondary prompt), "one last time" (phrase; secondary prompt).**

* * *

Romilda Vane was having a terrible day.

She had just been to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom to check on her Amortentia, and found that someone had spilled the entire cauldron-full. The Amortentia had taken months to find ingredients for, and at least three weeks to brew.

And now it was gone.

She would have to try again _one last time._

Then, she had been paired with Hermione Granger for Potions, who sat right behind Neville Longbottom, and was trying to help the incompetent boy.

And, finally, the last straw was when Neville's potion exploded, gluing the entirety of Romilda's right arm to Hermione Granger's left.

Now, Granger wasn't bad, but it was the fact that she was dating Ronald Weasley, the boy Romilda had pined after for years, that was just salt in the wound. Romilda had been trying to get Ron to notice her for years, but the brunette bookworm had gotten there first. Romilda had never forgiven her for that, even though it technically wasn't even really Hermione's fault. It was Ron's fault for not seeing what was there the entire time. But Romilda was determined to make the ginger finally notice her.

They were taken to the Hospital Wing, where Madam Pomphrey proclaimed that the potion should only last a few hours, and that it would hopefully wear off by the end of the day.

 _Should? Hopefully?_ That didn't reassure Romilda much...

Thankfully, she had most classes with Granger, so they didn't have to skip many — not that she would have minded. No, it was Granger who started hyperventilating at the thought of missing History of Magic. Why, Romilda didn't know. It wasn't like Binns would have noticed.

First class stuck to Granger was Transfiguration. The teachers must have been notified, for McGonagall said nothing when Romilda sat beside Granger, although those who hadn't been in the fateful Potions class whispered to their partners and friends. Thankfully Romilda was left-handed, so she could use her wand and Granger could use hers.

The students started whispering again when the two girls left the classroom together, heading off to lunch. They only got louder when Romilda sat with Hermione, and the more observant ones noticed that the girls were always touching.

Soon, it became a pattern: nudge the other when they were ready to go, rise together, turn as one, sit down as gracefully as they could so as not to jostle their companion.

Romilda found that people weren't joking about Granger's studious nature. The girl took four ten-inch pages of notes in Charms — and her handwriting was _tiny!_ Granger also dragged Romilda to the library on their separate class hours, which was what they took off. Romilda didn't mind the library, it was just that Granger hadn't even so much as _asked_ whether she would like to go.

"Granger, we need to go," Romilda said, for at least the third time. The brunette was poring over a thick, dusty tome in the recesses of the library, and it was almost time for Herbology. "Granger!" She raised her voice as much as she dared with Madam Pince nearby, and glanced around nervously, as if afraid the librarian would pop out from behind a bookshelf and shush her.

Hermione finally roused from her book. "What? Oh, yes. Terribly sorry."

 _And what was worse,_ Romilda thought miserably as they started down to Greenhouse 3, _is that she's_ nice.

And she _was_ nice. Romilda probably wouldn't have helped Granger if the girl's robes got caught by some sort of purple, toothy plant, but Granger obviously didn't feel the same way. The brunette witch leapt to Romilda's defense — well, actually, she was sort of dragged since they were stuck together — and threw some lighter purple powder at it, and the plant let go meekly and shrank back to its pot.

And finally, the day was over. But... "Shouldn't've the potion worn off by now?" Romilda asked. They were currently at dinner — sitting next to one another again — and they were _still_ attached at the arm.

Granger frowned. "I thought it would have. Maybe Madam Pomphrey made a mistake?" She looked doubtful, though, and they both knew that Madam Pomphrey _rarely,_ if ever, made a mistake.

They finished dinner and dessert, and just as they were standing up together, Romilda felt her right forearm tingle. A few seconds later, their arms disconnected and they could pull away from one another.

Granger smiled tentatively. Romilda returned the smile, if a bit forced. She wasn't all that bad, really... Maybe she did deserve Romilda's precious Ronniekins...

"That wasn't so bad," Granger said.

* * *

It actually wasn't, reflected Romilda later as she got ready for bed. It could have been worse.

She could have gotten stuck with Longbottom.


End file.
